Today is April 26, 2024 /
Today is April 26, 2024 /
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September 18, 2009 “Wage peace with your breath. Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mowed fields. Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees. Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact. Wage peace Continue Reading »
October 09, 2008 This past summer I reacquainted myself with books by Martin Buber – the eminent rabbi, philosopher and theologian – who is best known for his applied philosophy of ‘I-Thou,’ the quest for intimate relationship with God and with each other. I was riveted by an article entitled ‘The Jewish Soul,’ written by Continue Reading »
October 08, 2008 In about twenty-one hours, the Neilah Service and its refrain, “When the gates are closing and the day begins to fade” {Gates of Repentance, p. 518} will signify that the ten days that encompass Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are coming to an end. By six o’clock tomorrow evening, all appeals to Continue Reading »
September 29, 2008 One of the words that instantly comes to mind for me when I hear the phrase “the High Holy Days” is “transition.” This is all the truer in the wake of astonishing and unnerving changes on Wall Street as well as the forthcoming Presidential election on November 4th that will welcome a Continue Reading »
September 22, 2007 If memory is correct, I was about 14 years old and I was sitting in the magnificent sanctuary of the synagogue of my youth. It was Yom Kippur. The beautiful, soaring Moorish architecture of Temple Emanu-el was even more awe-inspiring on the High Holy Days. The sunlight that streamed through the stained-glass Continue Reading »
September 21, 2007 The litany of transgressions that we read this evening is daunting, but just imagine if you had to stand every time a transgression was recited that applied to you! To quote from ‘Gates of Repentance,’ our High Holy Day prayer book: “[for] the sins of arrogance, bigotry…deceit… greed [and] injustice… grudges, maliciousness…violence…xenophobia Continue Reading »
September 13, 2007 With the completion of this morning’s Torah Portion, the fabric of family, already frayed, has been completely severed. Abraham and Isaac would not see each other again until it was time to bury Sarah. The ancient rabbis, arguing causality, suggest that she died of a broken heart. Once again on this annual Continue Reading »
September 12, 2007 We are the ‘People of Hope.’ In Israel’s national anthem, HaTikvah, written in 1886 by Naphtali Herz Imber, we read and sing, Lo avdah tik’va’teynu/”Our hope will not be lost.” This phrase should inspire us because history, and Jewish history in particular, has cuffed hope around so many times throughout the ages, Continue Reading »
January 05, 2007 The fact that we have arrived at this moment in our congregation’s history to dedicate the American and Israeli flags on our bimah is very significant. Until this past September, we were always in someone else’s home – Gratz College or Congregation Melrose B’nai Israel – and while we were always made Continue Reading »
October 02, 2006 This morning, we read these words from the Torah: “I set before you this day life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life,” says God on this holiest day of the year. Yet surely some choices are made for us. Sometimes choosing life can be one of the most difficult commandments to Continue Reading »